
POEMS 

FOR 

CHILDREN 



ROSSETTI 



B« 





Copyright N?. 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



GOLDEN HOUR SERIES 

POEMS FOR 

CHILDREN 

BY 

CHRISTINA G. ROSSETTI 



Selected and arranged by 
MELVIN HIX 

Principal of Public School No. 3 J, Bay side, New York City 



EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY 

New York Boston Chicago 

San Francisco 







1 .Tl 



ssf 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received } 
MAY 23 1907 

v Copyright Entry 

CLASS 6 ' ^ XXc, No. 
COPY B. 



Copyrighted 

By EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY 

1907 



iu ifj 



'■ Its 71 



CONTENTS 



Love Me — 1 Love You 21 

My Baby 21 

Angels 22 

Holy Innocents . . .22 

The Cold Days of the Year 22 

Baby, Sleep . 23 

Mix a Pancake 23 

Against Quarreling 23 

Lullaby „ 24 

A House of Cards 24 

The Bee 25 

An Oak 25 

The Rich and Poor Babies ....... 25 

Letters 26 

The Bells 26 

Sing Me a Song 26 

A Pocket Handkerchief 27 

The Swallow and the Snail . . . . . . -27 

Umbrellas and Parasols 27 

The Poor Out in the Cold 28 

Two Queer Dreams 28 

A Baby . * . . -29 

The Rainbow , 29 

Daisies .29 

Polly and Poll . 30 

The Cherry Tree 30 

K 31 

If a Pig Wore a Wig ........ 31 

Hopping Frog, Plodding Toad 32 

Clouds and Rainbows • 3 2 

Cherries 33 

A Wish ^ 

If I were a Queen 34 

A Poor Old Dog 34 

The Horses of the Sea 35 

3 



4 CONTENTS 

The Caterpillar 35 

Pussy and Doggy 36 

To Mary 36 

Currants, Figs and Cherries 37 

A Frisky Lamb . 37 

Babv Cry 37 

The' Wind 38 

What? 38 

Kindness ........... 39 

Bob Cherry ........... 39 

Three Plum Buns ......... 40 

Things to Remember . 40 

Lady Moon .......... 40 

An Alphabet 41 

Two Mice 42 

The Moon 43 

Rosy Maiden Winifred ........ 43 

If the Moon Came from Heaven 44 

Flint ........... 44 

The Lambkin . 44 

Rushes in a Watery Place ....... 45 

The Ferry 45 

A Flower Bed .......... 46 

Lilies and Roses .......... 46 

The Wind 47 

Golden Glories • , 47 

Who has Seen the Wind ? . . . . . . 48 

Roses . .48 

What the Stars Do . . 49 

My One Rose .49 

Wrens and Robins ......... 49 

Three White Eggs 50 

Couple 50 

Sea-Sand and Sorrow ......... 50 

Rain in Season ......... 51 

Lambkins at Plav . . . . . . . . 51 

The Rose When She Blows 52 

A Chill 52 

Coral ........... 53 

Three Little Children 53 

Time Table Rhymes 54 

Song 55 

To My Mother 55 

Minnie, Mattie and May • . 56 



CONTENTS 



If the Sun Could Tell 
The Days are Clear 
One Swallow does not Mak 
Two Linnets 
The Dead Thrush . 
If Stars Dropped Out of Heaven 
The Months 
Withering 
Little One Weary 
All the Bells were Ringing 
Winter Rain 
May 

A Green Cornfield 
My Dolly Wife . 
The Peach Tree 
Boy Johnny 
A Crown of Wind Flow 
Merry Little Alice 
Bitter for Sweet 
J3ird Raptures 
Skylark and Nightingali 
Consider 

The Summer Nights 
Summer 

A Pin has a Head 
Cruel Boys . 
Consider the Lilies of the Field 
Love 
Minnie 

Tern pus Fugit 
Lady Isabella 
Sun and Moon 
Up-hill 

For Advent . 
Unselfishness 
Child's Talk in April 
Hope and Joy . 
An Alphabet 
Find the Answer 
Willie and Margery 
What do the Others Say 
Eleanor 

Margaret and Thomas 
A Year's Windfalls 



57 
58 
58 
59 
59 
60 
60 
61 
62 
62 

63 
64 
64 

65 
66 
66 
67 
68 
68 
69 
70 
70 

7i 

72 

73 
74 
74 
75 
76 
76 

77 

78 

78 

79 

8o- 

80 

82 

83 

84 

85 

85 

86 

87 



6 CONTENTS 

Christmastide 92 

Johnny ... 93 

The Flint 96 

Summer . . ..... 97 

Autumn 97 

June . .98 

September 99 

Lines to My Grandfather 100 

In the Meadow 101 

An Easter Carol 102 

Christmas Day 103 

A Christmas Carol . . 104 

A Valentine to My Mother 105 

A Christmas Carol . 106 

Wee Husband and Wee Wife 107 

A Christmas Carol iog 

A Number Jingle .110 

Sweet Daffadowndilly . . . . . . . .111 

Out in the Fields 112 

Winter . . .112 

When the Cows Come Home 113 

"There is a Budding Morrow in Midnight" . . . . 113 

Sterling Money 114 

Seasons . . . . . . . . .114 

A Diamond or a Coal 115 

Brownie Cow . . . . . . . 115 

The Rose that Blushes 116 

Books in the Running Brooks 116 

Fairies . . 117 

Dawn 118 

Praying Always 118 

Snow and Sand .119 

On Names .120 

My Least Little One 120 

Hoping for Spring 121 

Seasons 122 

Winter Rain 123 

The Holly . 123 

Summer 124 

Spring Quiet 125 

Earth and Heaven 126 

ToLalla 127 



INTRODUCTION 

The greatest task which confronts the little child is the 
mastering of the mother tongue in its three phases — speech, 
reading, and writing. In the accomplishment of this task, 
nothing is so helpful as the hearing and reading of large quan- 
tities of suitable poetry. This fact was well known to the 
people of antiquity. Before the age of writing, the laws and 
traditions of each tribe were handed down through the medium 
of verse. Verse was chosen rather than prose, because its 
form facilitated memorizing and furnished a guarantee of 
accuracy. When the law or tradition had been once thrown 
into the poetic form it was difficult to change its meaning 
without destroying its form and this would at once furnish a 
test of correctness. 

It was in this manner that all the nations of antiquity trained 
the minds of their young and transmitted to posterity the 
memory of the deeds done by their heroes, and those laws and 
rules of conduct which experience had found it necessary to 
impart to the youthful members of the community. Thus it 
was that the Greeks preserved to posterity the poems of Homer 
and the laws of their legislators. 

After the invention of writing, the necessity for poetry as a 
medium for the preservation of fact and tradition, passed 
away. For purposes of mere utility, prose took its place; 
yet the poetic form did not fall into disuse. It was found that 
poetry contained in itself a cultural value which could not be 



8 INTRODUCTION 

gained from prose. For many generations the Greek school 
boy learned by heart the poems of Homer or of Hesiod. 

In more recent times poetry has come to be comparatively 
neglected. Two or three generations ago there were many 
persons, some so-called educators, wmo entirely rejected or 
neglected poetry as a means of educating the young. This 
may have been owing in part to the fact that there was not in 
English literature any considerable body of poetry suitable 
for the use of very young children. Even in our day poetry 
of this class, printed in a form suitable for the home and the 
school, has not been generally available at a moderate price. 
It is to remedy this condition in part that this series of books 
is now offered to the public. 

At the present day poetry, as an educational force, is recover- 
ing its ancient place in the schools. There are, probably, few 
or no educators of any standing or reputation whatever, who 
deny its importance, and were these books intended solely for 
the use of schools, nothing more need be said. Since, however, it 
is hoped that they may find a place in many homes, it seems 
fitting to explain more fully the importance of poetry in the 
education of the young. 

Children should read poetry because they like it. Something 
within the child responds immediately to the rhythmical beat 
of the verse. So potent is this instinct, that children put 
rhythm into sounds which have it not. The tick of a clock is 
as evenly monotonous as mechanism can make it. Yet to the 
child it is not tick, tick, tick, tick, but tick, tock'; tick, rock'; 
with a stn,ng ictus upon the second syllable. This feeling for 
rhythm seems to be a physical, as well as mental, instinct, 
originating, probably, in the rhythmical beating of the heart. 
Thus the very physical life of the child is based upon rhythm. 
Quite naturally therefore, he responds most readily to the 



INTRODUCTION 



rhythmical forms of language. The length of the line of verse 
is also determined by the physical natu-e of man. A line of 
poetry is merely a certain number of syllables which can be 
pronounced comfortably between one breath and another. 
In most persons this number is eight or ten, and for this 
reason verse forms which exceed ten, or, at most, twelve 
syllables to the line have never been and never can become 
popular. To the child, of course, who breathes more rapidly 
than the adult, the shorter forms of verse are most suitable. 
Rhyme, also,— a kind of rhythm which comes at longer inter- 
vals and marks the end of the line, — furnishes a keen pleasure 
to the child. The gratification furnished by rhythm and rhyme 
is quite independent of the sense of the words read. It is for 
this reason that the very baby who knows scarce half a dozen 
words, is soothed and amused by "Nonsense Verses" and 
Mother Goose Rhymes. To the potency of such, the experi- 
ence of every mother will furnish ample testimony. 

It is a mistake to suppose that young children should not 
learn poetry which they cannot fully understand. Every child, 
not hopelessly dull, when he begins to attain a mastery of the 
mother tongue, delights in using words often entirely without 
meaning to him. He prattles on all day, repeating the words 
and sounds which he has learned, in an endless variety of com- 
binations. This apparently aimless exercise of the linguistic 
organs, is Mother Nature's method of training the child to the 
utterance of intelligible vocal sounds. For this reason, even 
nonsense rhymes and jingles give the child pleasure, and at the 
same time develop his power over the linguistic organs. 

To some matter-of-fact adults the child's intense love for 
rhymes and jingles may seem silly and useless: something to be 
repressed rather than gratified and encouraged. To such per- 
sons it may be worth while to state that modern pedagogy has 



io INTRODUCTION 

furnished an explanation of this childish love of verse; an 
explanation based upon the doctrine of evolution, which is 
now, in some form or other, accepted by all. 

Biologists have found that before birth the human embryo 
passes through various stages similar to those by which earthly 
life has evolved. In the beginning it resembles the lowest 
forms of invertebra from which it ascends to the highest, or 
vertebrate, forms of animal life. After birth, the child's 
mental and physical characteristics resemble those of the 
quadrumana, and later those of the lower races of humanity. 
The biologists further tell us that each stage is necessary to 
the fullest development of the individual. In short, the child 
does, and should, recapitulate the various stages through which 
the race has been evolved. This theory is known as the " Cul- 
ture Epoch Theory," and is generally accepted by modern 
educators. 

Now the child, up to the age of twelve or fourteen, passes 
through, or recapitulates, the savage and barbarous stages of 
race-evolution. In those stages the race universally preferred 
verse to prose, and the child while passing through the same 
stage exhibits the same preference. 

Children should read poetry also because it trains the ear and 
furnishes a guide to the pronunciation of many words. This 
is especially true of the more musical forms of verse. 
Such poetry, when well read, or recited, furnishes a valuable 
training of the sense for the beautiful in language, which is 
probably latent in the mind of every normal child. The 
training thus afforded is closely akin to that furnished by 
music, and is scarcely less valuable. Rhyme requiring an 
identity of sound at the ends of lines sometimes furnishes a 
valuable key to the pronunciation of words. 

Children should read and memorize poetry for the purpose 



INTRODUCTION " 

of training the memory and increasing their vocabulary. The 
use of poetry for these purposes has been approved of in all 
ages and by all schools of educators. Its value in the training 
of the verbal memory has been experienced by almost everyone. 
A poem once thoroughly learned, and afterwards almost for- 
gotten, can be recalled far more easily and completely than 
could be done in case of a prose selection of equal length. 
Besides, it is far more easily learned in the first place. The 
form of poetry, the measured beat of the rhythm, the regular 
length of the line, and the recurring harmony of the rhyme, all 
aid the memory in retaining the words. Thus, in the mind 
of the child who hears, reads, and learns much poetry, a large 
and varied stock of words will be accumulated. The importance 
of this enrichment of the vocabulary can scarcely be over- 
estimated. One who notices the talk of children will inevitably 
be astonished at the paucity of the words they are accustomed 
to use. The elementary school course brings the child into 
contact with several thousands of words; in their conversations 
the most of them employ but a few hundred. 

Beside the mere hearing, reading, and learning poetry, there 
is another way in which young persons increase their stock of 
words and improve their command over them; that is, by 
writing rhymes and verses of their own. This practice isfar 
more general than is sometimes supposed. As Hugh Miller 
says, "Almost every active intelligence during youth has a try 
at making verse." Conradi found that just fifty per cent of 
the cases he investigated had tried their hands at original 
poetry. Benjamin Franklin and many others have recorded 
their efforts in this direction, and their belief in the efficacy 
of the practice. 

This practice of verse-making should always be commended 
and encouraged. The effort to find words to fit the rhythm 



12 INTRODUCTION 

and the rhyme will greatly broaden and enrich the child's stock 
of words. In this connection it is an interesting fact that 
almost every master of English prose has, at some time or other, 
served an apprenticeship as a verse-maker and recorded his 
belief that this practice is a valuable aid toward the mastering 
of a good prose style. 

Children should read poetry beta use it furnishes the mind 
with a store of valuable ideas. The importance of this enrich- 
ment of the child's mental content cannot be overrated. The 
child is bound to have something going on in his mind. Self- 
activity is an instinct of the mind as well as of the body, but 
self-activity demands something to work with. The mind 
cannot be active in vacuo any more than a baseball nine can 
play the game without the ball. It is the business of the 
parent and the teacher to put the child's mind into a condi- 
tion to use good and elevating ideas rather than those which 
are evil and debasing. These good ideas can be furnished 
by the reading of good poetry. While engaged in this the 
child will not learn to lie, to swear, to fight, to cheat, or to 
steal. 

The importance of implanting good ideas in the child's 
mind is emphasized by the theory of the human mind held 
by the philosopher Hume and many others. According to 
this theory, ideas create the mind. Hume says: "The ideas 
are, themselves, the actors, the stage, the theatre, the spectators, 
and the play." Professor James, while not accepting this 
theory in its entirety, says: "No truth, however abstract, is 
ever perceived, that will not probably, at some time or other, 
influence our earthly actions. . . . Every sort of con- 
sciousness, be it sensation, feeling, or idea, tends directly to 
discharge itself into some motor effect." In other words our 
actions are dependent upon our stock of ideas. How im- 



INTRODUCTION 13 

portant, then, that the ideas with which a child's mind is stocked 
shall be good, and poetry is the most effective vehicle for the 
conveyance of good ideas to the mind of the young child. 

Children should read poetry because it stimulates and develops 
the imagination. The imaginative appeal of poetry is known 
and acknowledged by all. Indeed, it constitutes one of the 
essential elements of poetry. Now, children, whether we wish 
it or not, will exercise their imagination. It is during child- 
hood the dominant mental faculty. ''Of all people children 
are the most imaginative." The childish imagination, if left 
to itself, is quite as apt to run to the evil as to the good. In- 
deed, if we accept the doctrines of a certain school of theo- 
logians, it is far more apt to take the downward than the 
upward path. The only way to check and prevent this down- 
ward tendency is by furnishing the child's mind with a store 
of good ideas, as a basis for the imagination to work upon. 
If we till the mind with the good there will be no room for the 
evil, and in doing this, experience has shown that nothing is 
so effective as an abundance of good reading, especially the 
reading of poetry. 

To emphasize the importance of this stimulation and training 
of the imagination let me add the following definitions: 

"The imagination is the organ of the heart and opens up the 
way for reason." — /. Stanley Hall. 

"The imagination is that power of the mind which combines 
and arranges, with more or less symmetry and proportion, 
that which primarily comes into the mind through the senses." 

— Dr. Francis Parker. 

Children should read poetry because it stimulates the emotions 
and trains the will. The power of poetry over the emotions is 



i 4 INTRODUCTION 

due, in part, to its form. The same facts or ideas embodied 
in prose do not stimulate the emotions in the same manner 
or to an equal degree. For example, "Evangeline," in prose, 
would have quite another effect. Poetry in general does not 
perhaps excite the passions to the same degree of intensity as 
some works of fiction. The stimulation produced by good 
poetry is calmer and more even than that produced by the 
most vivid pieces of fiction. For this very reason poetry is 
better adapted to the training of the will and the character 
through the emotions, than the more exciting novels. For 
this reason, too, great care should be exercised in the choice 
of the prose fiction which a child is allowed to read. On the 
other hand, there is extant practically no English poetry suitable 
for children which can be, in the slightest degree, harmful; 
certainly none such is to be found in this series. 

Now the will, that power which transmutes character into 
act, is governed mainly by the emotions. The heart is a far 
more powerful and a readier responding instrument than the 
head. "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speak- 
eth," and "As a man thinketh in his Ti eart so is he." 

Children should read and memorize poetry because it is the 
best means of developing the religious nature. On this point 
I cannot do better than to quote from a speech of Dr. Charles 
W. Eliot, president of Harvard University.* He says: 

"Is there any universally applicable method through which 
we can insure in little children the unconscious reception of the 
leading ideas of the (Christian) faith? I believe there is, and 
I believe that this method should be used in all (Christian) 
families and all (Christian) churches. It is the method of com- 
mitting poetry to memory. I heard Dr. Crothers quoting 

( *Dr. Eliot speaks from the standpoint of a particular church, but what 
he says is universally applicable.) 



INTRODUCTION 15 

somebody last Sunday to the effect that religion is poetry; 
but somebody else amended that statement by saying that 
religion is poetry believed. The amendment is important. 
Can we put into the childish mind through poetry a religion 
it will believe? We may be perfectly certain that no child 
ever got any religion out of a catechism. It takes an adult 
with the tendency to metaphysics to get anything out of cate- 
chism. Will not a child unconsciously get religion out of 
poetry, if it be well selected? I have seen the experiment 
tried in a fair number of instances — not enough instances 
for a general conclusion, but in a fair number of instances — 
and never knew it to fail. In order to give you an impression 
of the actual working of the method, I must enter into a few 
particulars. Take such a poem as Longfellow's 'Village 
Blacksmith,' a very simple poem of universal sentiments, and 
let the child, at an appropriate age, commit the whole of it to 
memory, so that it can recite it whenever asked for. Some 
of the most fundamental conceptions of religion, some of the 
most fundamental conceptions of the new science of sociology, 
will enter the child's mind with that poem. Of course, as in all 
poetry, a great deal of what we may call information, or sug- 
gested knowledge, is conveyed in even a single verse. Take the 
verse: 

"'He hears his daughter's voice 

Singing in the village choir, 
And it makes his heart rejoice. 

"'It sounds to him like her mother's voice 
Singing in Paradise.' 

"Now the child eight or ten years old will take that all in, 
and will learn from it that the blacksmith had a daughter who 



16 INTRODUCTION 

could sing, and she sang sweetly in the village choir; and the 
blacksmith had had a wife whom he loved tenderly and she 
was dead, and she sang when with him, and now she was 
singing in a happy next world, in Paradise; and the black- 
smith liked to go to church because he heard his daughter, 
who reminded him of her mother. All that is in that little 
verse; and it is a beautiful picture of some of the best parts of 
human experience. 

"Take another poem, very well known to us all, but seldom 
used, it seems to me, for children: Leigh Hunt's 'Abou Ben 
Adhem' ('May his tribe increase')! There is a poem that any 
child of ten years old will take in, and it presents a . eries of 
delightful pictures; and at the end comes a very compact 
statement of the whole (Christian) theory about character. 

"Another invaluable poem for religious education is Bryant's 
'Waterfowl.' The whole (Christian) view of the Providence of 
God is presented to the child in that lovely poem — God is 
guiding the bird through the pathless air, and just as he guides 
the bird he will guide me. It is the simplest possible presenta- 
tion to a child's mind of the loving Fatherhood of God." 

The importance of what Dr. Eliot has said is emphasized by 
the fact that the use of the Bible is not permitted in our public 
schools. Teachers must therefore take advantage of every 
opportunity furnished by the literature read or otherwise to 
"point a moral." Hitherto our schools have not been suffi- 
ciently supplied with literature well fitted to form a basis for 
moral instruction. This deficiency, it is hoped, these little 
books will help diminish. 

The reading of poetry by the young not only nourishes the 
mind and develops the moral and religious nature, but it of- 
fers the most efficient means of creating a taste for good 
reading. The modern civilized man is bound to read some- 



INTRODUCTION 17 

thing, and the field of literature is so broad that it offers mate- 
rial to satisfy the needs and tastes of every intelligence. But, 
unfortunately, the field of bad literature is equally extensive, 
and is apt to be preferred by those whose early literary training 
has been neglected. Unfortunately, too, a taste for good 
reading is generally formed early in life or not at all. Early, 
far too early, the harsh hand of stern necessity or the flattering 
caress of frivolous pleasure is laid upon youth to deflect it 
irom the laborious but profitable path which leads to true 
culture. Let parents and teachers, therefore, look to it that 
the feet of the young child are early set in the straight path 
which leads to the Elysian fields of good literature. 

Melvin Hix 



A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF 

CHRISTINA GEORGIANA ROSSETTI 

Christina Georgiana Rossetti, the author of the poems in 
this book, was born in London, England, Dec. 5, 1830, and 
died in that city Dec. 29, 1894. Her parents were Italian 
exiles. Though poor, they were persons of education and 
refinement. Her father supported his wife and four children 
— two boys and two girls — by teaching Italian. Of these 
children, Christina was the youngest. 

As a child she was noted for her kindness and politeness 
to others. Indeed, so polite was she, that her brother once 
jokingly remarked to her that "She would soon become so 
polite it would become impossible to live with her." She 
was never sent to school, being taught at home by her mother. 
She learned to write a beautiful hand and her note-books were 
always models of neatness. Though not a particularly studious 



18 INTRODUCTION 

child, she was bright and thoughtful, and learned much from 
the talk of others. Before she was twelve years of age she 
began to write poetry, and continued to do so for more than 
fifty years. 

She was never married. Having no home of her own, she 
lived, during their life-time, with her parents; after their death, 
for the most part with her brother, William M'chael Rossetti. 
She was of an affectionate disposition, being especially fond 
of little children. Being without family of her own, she ex- 
pended her love upon her little nephews and nieces and the 
children of her friends, for whom most of the poems in this 
book were originally written. 

During the greater part of her quiet and uneventful life, 
she suffered extremely from ill-health, but her own suffering 
never made her sour, ill-tempered, or unkind to others. In- 
deed, she was never known to do an unkind act, or say an 
unkind word; and, though her means were always small, she 
was ever ready to give freely to others whose need was greater 
than her own. She was naturally of a deeply religious nature, 
and throughout her long life an earnest and consistent member 
of the Church of England. 

Though for fifty years a writer of poetry, and to a less extent, 
of prose, her income from her literary work was always small; 
happily toward the end of her life it became ample for her 
needs. 

Concerning the quality of Miss Rossetti's poetry, and its 
adaptation to the needs of young children, I append the follow- 
ing estimates by two competent American critics: 

"The increasing appreciation of her simple verse — not all 
of it flawless, by any means; too rough and broken often — is 
full of good augury. It is the inevitable, spontaneous quality 
of her verse, something like the sweet simplicity of Blake at 



INTRODUCTION 19 

his best in the 'Songs of Innocence,' of Shakespeare in such 
drifts of thistle-down fancy as "Where the bee sucks' — it is 
this we want to know and feel when we see it, and fill the 
bird-like mouths of children with." — Prof. Percival Chubb, in 
the " Teaching oj English" page 52. 

"Miss Rossetti demands closer attention. She is a woman 
of genius, whose songs, hymns, ballads, and various lyrical 
pieces are studied and original. I do not greatly admire her 
longer poems, which are more fantastic than imaginative; but 
elsewhere she is a poet of profound and serious cast, whose 
lips part with the breathing of a fervid spirit within. She has 
no lack of matter to express; it is that expression w r herein 
others are so fluent and adroit which fails to serve her purpose 
quickly; but when, at last, she beats her music out, it has 
mysterious and soul-felt meaning." — Edmund Clarence Sted- 
man, in " Victorian Poets" page 280. 

Melvin Hix 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 



LOVE ME-- 1 LOVE YOU, 

Love me — I love you, 
Love me, my baby; 

Sing it high, sing it low, 
Sing it as it may be. 

Mother's arms under you, 
Her eyes above you; 

Sing it high, sing it low, 
Love me — I love you. 



MY BABY. 

My baby has a mottled fist, 

My baby has a neck in creases; 

My baby kisses and is kissed, 
For he's the very thing for kisses. 



21 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

ANGELS. 

Angels at the foot, 

And angels at the head, 
And like a curly little lamb, 

My pretty babe in bed. 



HOLY INNOCENTS. 

Sleep, little Baby, sleep; 

The holy angels love thee, 
And guard thy bed, and keep 

A blessed watch above thee. 

No spirit can come near 

Nor evil beast to harm thee: 

Sleep, Sweet, devoid of fear 

Where nothing need alarm thee, 



THE COLD DAYS OF THE YEAR. 

Bread and milk for breakfast, 
And woolen frocks to wear, 

And a crumb for robin redbreast, 
On the cold days of the year. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 23 

BABY, SLEEP. 

Lie a-bed, 

Sleepy head, 

Shut up eyes, bo-peep; 

Till day-break 

Never wake: — 

Baby, sleep. 

MIX A PANCAKE. 

Mix a pancake, 
Stir a pancake, 

Pop it in the pan; 
Fry the pancake, 
Toss the pancake, 

Catch it if you can. 

AGAINST QUARRELING. 

Hop-o'-my-thumb and little Jack Horner, 
What do you mean by tearing and fighting ? 

Sturdy dog Trot close round the corner, 
I never caught him growling and biting. 



24 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

LULLABY. 

Lullaby, oh, lullaby! 
Flowers are closed and lambs are sleeping; 

Lullaby, oh, lullaby! 
Stars are up, the moon is peeping; 

Lullaby, oh, lullaby! 
While the birds are silence keeping, 

Lullaby, oh, lullaby! 
Sleep, my baby, fall a-sleeping, 

Lullaby, oh, lullaby! 



A HOUSE OF CARDS 

A house of cards 
Is neat and small: 

Shake the table, 
It must fall. 

Find the face cards 

One by one; 
Raise it, roof it — 

Now it 's done : — 
Shake the table! 

That's the fun. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 25 

THE BEE. 

What does the bee do ? 

Bring home honey. 
And what does Father do ? 

Bring home money. 
And what does Mother do? 

Lay out the money. 
And what does baby do ? 

Eat up the honey. 

AN OAK. 

A toadstool comes up in a night — 
Learn the lesson, little folk: — 

An oak grows on a hundred years, 
And then it is an oak. 



THE RICH AND POOR BABIES. 

My baby has a father and a mother, 

Rich little baby! 
Fatherless, motherless, I know another 

Forlorn as may be: 

Poor little baby! 



26 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

LETTERS. 

Eight o'clock; 

The postman's knock! 

Five letters for papa; 
One for Lou, 
And none for you, 

And three for dear mamma. 



THE BELLS. 

"Ding a ding," 

The sweet bells sing, 

And say, 
"Come, all be gay," 

For a holiday. 



SING ME A SONG. 

Sing me a song. — 
What shall I sing? — 

Three merry sisters 
Dancing in a ring, 

Light and fleet upon their feet 
As birds upon the wing. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 27 

A POCKET HANDKERCHIEF. 

A pocket handkerchief to hem — 

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! 
How many stitches it will take 

Before it's done, I fear. 

Yet set a stitch and then a stitch, 

And stitch and stitch away, 
Till stitch by stitch the hem is done, 

And after work is play. 



THE SWALLOW AND THE SNAIL 

Swift and sure the swallow, 
Slow and sure the snail: 

Slow and sure may miss his way, 
Swift and sure may fail. 



UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS. 

When fishes set umbrellas up, 

If the raindrops run, 
Lizards will want their parasols, 

To shade them from the sun. 



28 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

THE POOR OUT IN THE COLD, 

There's snow on the fields, 
And cold in the cottage, 

While I sit in the chimney nook 
Supping hot porridge. 

My clothes are soft and warm, 

Fold upon fold, 
But I 'm so sorry for the poor, 

Out in the cold. 



TWO QUEER DREAMS. 

"I dreamt I caught a little owl 
And the bird was blue" — 



'But you may hunt for ever 
And not find such an one." 

'I dreamt I set a sunflower, 
And red as blood it grew" - 

" But such a sunflower never 
Bloomed beneath the sun." 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 29 

A BABY. 

I know a baby, such a baby. — 

Round blue eyes and cheeks of pink, 

Such an elbow furrowed with dimples, 
Such a wrist where creases sink. 

'Cuddle and love me, cuddle and love nic," 
Crows the mouth of coral pink: 
Oh, the bald head, and oh, the sweet lips, 
And oh, the sleepy eyes that wink! 



THE RAINBOW. 

If all were rain and never sun, 
No bow could span the hill; 

If all were sun and never rain, 
There 'd be no rainbow still. 



DAISIES. 

Where innocent, bright eyed daisies are, 
With blades of grass between, 

Each daisy stands up like a star, 
Out of a sky of green. 



3 o POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

POLLY AND POLL. 

I have a Poll parrot, 
And Poll's my doll, 

And my nurse is Polly, 
And my sister Poll. 

"Polly!" cried Polly, 
"Don't tear Polly dolly" — 
While soft-hearted Poll 
Trembled for the doll. 



THE CHERRY TREE. 

Oh fair to see 

Bloom-laden cherry tree, 
Arrayed in sunny white, 
An April day's delight; 

Oh fair to see! 

Oh fair to see 

Fruit-laden cherry tree, 
With balls of shiny red 
Decking a leafy head; 

Oh fair to see! 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 31 

IF. 

If a mouse could fly, 

Or if a crow could swim, 
Or if a sprat could walk and talk, 

I'd like to be like him. 

If a mouse could fly, 

He might fly away; 
Or if a crow could swim, 

It might turn him gray; 
Or if a sprat could walk and talk, 

What would he find to say ? 

IF A PIG WORE A WIG. 

If a pig wore a wig, 

What could we say ? 
Treat him as a gentleman, 

And say, " Good-day." 

If his tail chanced to fail, 

What could we do ? — 
Send him to the tailoress, 

To get one new. 



3 2 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

HOPPING FROG, PLODDING TOAD. 

Hopping frog, hop here and be seen, 
I'll not pelt you with stick or stone: 

Your cap is laced, and your coat is green; 
Good-bye, we'll let each other alone. 

Plodding toad, plod here and be looked at, 
You the finger of scorn is crooked at, 
But though you're lumpish, you're harmless, too, 
You won't hurt me, and I won't hurt you. 



CLOUDS AND RAINBOWS. 

Boats sail on the rivers, 
And ships sail on the seas; 

But clouds that sail across the sky 
Are prettier far than these. 

There are bridges on the rivers, 

As pretty as you please; 
But the bow that bridges heaven, 

And overtops the trees, 
And builds a road from earth to sky, 

Is prettier far than these. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 33 

CHERRIES. 

Mother shake the cherry tree, 

Susan catch a cherry; 
Oh, how funny that will be, 

Let's be merry! 

One for brother, one for sister, 

Two for mother more, 
Six for father, hot and tired, 

Knocking at the door. 



A WISH. 

I wish I were a little bird, 

That out of sight doth soar; 
I wish I were a song once heard 

But often pondered o'er, 
Or shadow of a lily stirred 

By wind upon the floor, 
Or echo of a loving word, 

Worth all that went before, 
Or memory of a hope deferred 

That springs again no more. 



34 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

IF I WERE A QUEEN. 

"If I were a queen, 
What would I do ? 
I'd make you a king, 
And I 'd wait on you." 

"If I were a king, 
What would I do ? 
I'd make you a queen, 
For I'd marry you." 



A POOR OLD DOG. 

Pity the sorrows of a poor old dog 

Who wags his tail a-begging in his need; 
Despise not even the sorrows of a frog, 

God's creature too, and that's enough to 
plead; 
Spare puss, who trusts us, purring on our hearth; 

Spare bunny, once so frisky and so free; 
Spare all the harmless creatures of the earth: 

Spare, and be spared — or who shall plead for 
thee? 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 35 

THE HORSES OE THE SEA. 

The horses of the sea 

Rear a foaming crest, 
But the horses of the land 

Serve us the best. 

The horses of the land 
Munch corn and clover, 

While the foaming sea-horsts 
Toss and turn over. 



THE CATERPILLAR. 

Brown and furry 

Caterpillar in a hurry, 

Take your walk 

To the shady leaf, or stalk, 

Or what not, 

Which may be the chosen spot. 

No toad spy you, 

Hovering bird of prey pass by you; 

Spin and die, 

To live again a butterfly. 



36 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

PUSSY AND DOGGIE. 

Pussy has a whiskered face, 
Kitty has such pretty ways, 
Doggie scampers when I call, 
And has a heart to love us all. 

The dog lies in his kennel, 
And puss purrs on the rug, 

And baby perches on my knee, 
For me to love and hug. 

Pat the dog and stroke the cat, 
Each in its own degree, 

And cuddle and kiss my baby, 
And baby kiss me. 



TO MARY. 

You were born in the Spring, 
When the pretty birds sing 

In sunbeamy bowers: 
Then dress like a Fairy, 
Dear dumpling, my Mary, 

In green and in flowers. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 37 

CURRANTS, FIGS, AND CRERRIES. 

Currants on a bush, 

And figs upon a stem, 
And cherries on a bending bough 

And Ned to gather them. 

A FRISKY LAMB. 
A frisky lamb 
And a frisky child 
Playing their pranks 

In a cowslip meadow: 
The sky all blue 
And the air all mild 
And the fields all sun 

And the lanes half shadow. 



BABY CRY. 

Baby cry — 

Oh, fie!- 
At the physic in the cup 

Gulp it twice 

And gulp it thrice, 
Baby gulp it up. 



3 S POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

THE WIND. 

O Wind, why do you never rest, 
Wandering, whistling to and fro, 

Bringing rain out of the west, 

From the dim north bringing snow ? 

WHAT ? 

What is pink ? a rose is pink 

By the fountain's brink. 

What is red ? a poppy's red 

In its barley bed. 

What is blue ? the sky is blue 

Where the clouds float thro'. 

What is white ? a swan is white. 

Sailing in the light. 

What is yellow ? pears are yellow, 

Rich and ripe and mellow. 

What is green ? the grass is green, 

With small flowers between. 

What is violet ? clouds are violet 

In the summer twilight. 

What is orange ? why, an orange, 

Just an orange! 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 39 

KINDNESS. 

Hurt no living thing: 

Ladybird, nor butterfly, 
Nor moth with dusty wing, 

Nor cricket chirping cheerily, 
Nor grasshopper so light of leap, 

Nor dancing gnat, nor beetle fat, 
Nor harmless worms that creep. 

BOB CHERRY. 

Playing at bob cherry 

Tom and Nell and Hugh: 

Cherry bob! cherry bob! 
There's a bob for you. 

Tom bobs a cherry 

For gaping, snapping Hugh, 
While curly-pated Nelly, 

Snaps at it too. 

Look, look, look — 

Oh, what a sight to see! 
The wind is playing cherry bob 

With the cherry tree. 



4 o POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

THREE PLUM BUNS. 

Three plum buns 

To eat here at the stile 

In the clover meadow, 

For we have walked a mile. 

One for you, one for me, 

And one left over, 
Give it to the boy who shouts 

To scare sheep from the clover. 



THINGS TO REMEMBER. 

Seldom "can't," 
Seldom "don't"; 

Never "sha'n't," 
Never "won't." 



LADY MOON. 

O Lady Moon, your horns point toward the east; 

Shine, be increased: 
O Lady Moon, your horns point toward the west; 

Wane, be at rest. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 41 

AN ALPHABET. 

A is the Alphabet, A at its head; 

B is the Baker Boy bringing the bread. 

C is for Cornflower come with the corn; 
D is a Dinner which dahlias adorn. 

E is an elegant eloquent Earl; 

F is a Falcon with feathers to furl. 

G is the Gander, the Gosling, the Goose; 
H is for Heartsease, harmonious of hues. 

I is an Idler who idles on ice; 
J is a Jacinth, a jewel of price. 

K is a King, or a Kaiser still higher: 
L is a Lute or a lovely-toned Lyre. 

M is a Meadow where Meadowsweet blows; 
N is a Nut — in a nutshell it grows. 

O is an Opal, with only one spark; 
P is a Pony, a pet in a park. 



42 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

Q is a Quail, quick-chirping at morn; 
R is a Rose, rosy-red on a thorn. 

S is a Snow-storm that sweeps o'er the sea; 
T is the Tea-table set out for tea. 

U, the Umbrella, went up in a shower; 

V is a Violet veined in the flower. 

W stands for the water-bred Whale — 
X, or XX, or XXX, is ale. 

Y is a yellow Yacht, yellow its boat, 
Z is a Zebra, zigzagged his coat. 



TWO MICE. 

The city mouse lives in a house; — 

The garden mouse lives in a bower, 
He's friendly with the frogs and toads, 

And sees the pretty plants in flower. 
The city mouse eats bread and cheese: 

The garden mouse eats what he can; 
We will not grudge him seeds and stalks, 

Poor little timid furry man. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 43 

THE MOON. 

Is the moon tired ? she looks so pale 
Within her misty veil: 
She scales the sky from east to west, 
And takes no rest. 

Before the coming of the night 
The moon shows papery white; 
Before the dawning of the day 
She fades away. 

ROSY MAIDEN WINIFRED. 

Rosy maiden Winifred, 
With a milk pail on her head, 
Tripping through the corn, 
While the dew lies on the wheat 
In the sunny morn. 
Scarlet sheperd's-weatherglass 
Spreads wide open at her feet 
As they pass; 

Cornflowers give their almond smell 
While she brushes by, 
And a lark sings from the sky 
'All is well." 



44 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

IF THE MOON CAME FROM HEAVEN. 

If the moon came from Heaven, 

Talking all the way, 
What could she have to tell us, 

And what could she say ? 

"I've seen a hundred pretty things, 
And seen a hundred gay; 
But only think: I peep by night 
And do not peep by day!" 

FLINT. 

Stroke a flint, and there is nothing to admire: 
Strike a flint, and forthwith flash out sparks of 
fire. 

THE LAMBKIN. 

A motherless, soft lambkin, 

Alone upon a hill; 
No mother's fleece to shelter him 

And wrap him from the cold: — 
I'll run to him, and comfort him, 

Until he's strong and bold. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 45 

RUSHES IN A WATERY PLACE. 

Rushes in a watery place, 

And reeds in a hollow; 
A soaring skylark in the sky, 

A darting swallow; 
And where pale blossom used to hang 

Ripe fruit to follow. 

THE FERRY. 

"Ferry me across the water, 

Do, boatman, do." 
"If you've a penny in your purse 

I'll ferry you." 

"I have a penny in my purse, 
And my eyes are blue; 
So ferry me across the water, 
Do, boatman, do." 

"Step into my ferry-boat, 
Be they black or blue, 
And for the penny in your purse 
I'll ferry you." 



46 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

A FLOWER BED. 

Heartease in my garden bed, 
With sweet William white and red, 
Honeysuckle on my wall: — 

Heartease blooms in my heart 
When sweet William comes to call; 

But it withers when we part, 
And the honey-trumpets fall. 

LILIES AND ROSES. 

The lily has a smooth stalk, 
Will never hurt your hand; 

But the rose upon her briar 
Is lady of the land. 

There's sweetness in an apple tree, 

And profit in the corn; 
But lady of all beauty 

Is a rose upon a thorn. 

When with moss and honey 
She tips her bending briar, 

And half unfolds her glowing heart, 
She sets the world on fire. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 47 

THE WIND. 

The wind has such a rainy sound 

Moaning through the town, 
The sea has such a windy sound — 

Will the ships go down ? 

The apples in the orchard 

Tumble from their tree. — 
Oh will the ships go down, go down, 

In the windy sea ? 



GOLDEN GLORIES. 

The buttercup is like a golden cup, 
The marigold is like a golden frill, 

The daisy with a golden eye looks up, 
And golden spreads the flag beside the rill, 
And gay and golden nods the daffodil; 

The gorsey common swells a golden sea, 
The cowslip hangs a head of golden tips, 

And golden drips the honey which the bee 
Sucks from sweet hearts of flowers and 
stores and sips. 



4« POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

WHO HAS SEEN THE WIND? 

Who has seen the wind ? 

Neither I nor you: 
But when the leaves hang trembling 

The wind is passing thro'. 

Who has seen the wind ? 

Neither you nor I: 
But when the trees bow down their heads 

The wind is passing by. 

ROSES. 
Roses blushing red and white, 

For delight; 
Honeysuckle wreaths above, 

For love; 
Dim, sweet-scented heliotrope, 

For hope; 
Shining lilies tall and straight, 

For royal state; 
Dusky pansies, let them be 

For memory; 
With violets of fragrant breath, 

For death. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 49 

WHAT THE STARS DO. 

What do the stars do, 

Up in the sky, 
Higher than the wind can blow, 

Or the clouds can fly ? 

Each star in its own glory 

Circles, circles still; 
As it was lit to shine and set, 

And do its Maker's will. 



MY ONE ROSE. 

I have but one rose in the world, 
And my one rose stands a-drooping: 

Oh, when my single rose is dead 
There'll be but thorns for stooping. 



WRENS AND ROBINS. 

Wrens and robins in the hedge, 
Wrens and robins here and there; 
Building, perching, pecking, fluttering, 
Everywhere! 



50 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

THREE WHITE EGGS. 

A white hen sitting 

On white eggs three: 
Next, three speckled chickens 

As plump as plump can be. 

An owl and a hawk 

And a bat come to see; 
But chicks beneath their mother's wing 

Squat safe as safe can be. 



COUPLET. 

"Come, cheer up, my lads, 'tis to glory we 
steer" — 
As the soldier remarked whose post lay in the 
rear. 



SEA-SAND AND SORROW. 

What are heavy? Sea-sand and sorrow: 
What are brief? To-day and to-morrow: 
What are frail ? Spring blossoms and youth: 
What are deep ? The ocean and truth. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

RAIN IN SEASON. 

Lambs so woolly white, 

Sheep the sun-bright leas on, 

They could have no grass to bite 
But for rain in season. 

We should find no moss 

In the shadiest places, 
Find no waving meadow grass 

Pied with broad-eyed daisies: 

But miles of barren sand, 

With never a son or daughter; 

Not a lily on the land, 
Or lily on the water. 



LAMBKINS AT PLAY. 

On the grassy banks 
Lambkins at their pranks; 
Woolly sisters, woolly brothers, 

Jumping off their feet, 
While their woolly mothers 

Watch by them and bleat. 



51 



52 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

THE ROSE WHEN SHE BLOWS, 

The lily has an air, 

And the snowdrop a grace, 

And the sweet pea a way, 
And the heartsease a face — 

Yet there's nothing like the rose 

When she blows. 



A CHILL. 

What can lambkins do 
All the keen night through? 
Nestle by their woolly mother, 
The careful ewe. 

What can nestlings do 

In the nightly dew ? 

Sleep beneath their mother's wing 

Till day breaks anew. 

If in field or tree 

There might only be 

Such a warm soft sleeping-place 

Found for me! 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 53 

CORAL. 

sailor, come ashore, 

What have you brought for me ? 
Red coral, white coral, 
Coral from the sea. 

1 did not dig it from the ground, 
Nor pluck it from a tree; 

Feeble insects made it 
In the stormy sea. 

THREE LITTLE CHILDREN. 

Three little children, 

On the wide, wide earth, 
Motherless children — 

Cared for from their birth 
By tender angels. 

Three little children, 

On the wide, wide sea, 
Motherless children, 

Safe as safe can be 
With guardian angels. 



54 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

TIME TABLE RHYMES. 

How many seconds in a minute ? 
Sixty, and no more in it. 

How many minutes in an hour ? 
Sixty for sun and shower. 

How many hours in a day? 
Twenty-four for work and play. 

How many days in a week ? 
Seven both to hear and speak. 

How many weeks in a month ? 
Four, as the swift moon runn'th. 

How many months in a year ? 
Twelve the almanack makes clear. 

How many years in an age ? 
One hundred says the sage. 

How many ages in time ? 
No one knows the rhyme. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 55 

SONG. 

Two doves upon the selfsame branch, 

Two lilies on a single stem, 
Two butterflies upon one flower: — 

Oh, happy they who look on them! 

Who look upon them hand in hand, 
Flushed in the rosy summer light; 

Who look upon them hand in hand, 
And never give a thought to night. 



TO MY MOTHER. 
On the Anniversary of Her Birth 

(Presented with a nosegay.) 

To-day's your natal day: 
Sweet flowers I bring: 

Mother, accept I pray 
My offering. 

And may you happy live, 

And long us bless; 
Receiving as you give 

Great happiness. 






POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

MINNIE, MATTIE, AND MAY. 

Minnie and Mattie 

And fat little May, 
Out in the country, 

Spending a day. 

Such a brief day. 

With the sun glowing, 

And the trees half in leaf, 
And the grass growing. 

Pinky white pigling 

Squeals through his snout, 

Woolly white lambkin 
Frisks all about. 

Cluck! cluck! the mother hen 
Summons her chickens 

To peck the dainty bits 
Found in her pickings. 

Minnie and Mattie 
And May carry posies, 

Half of sweet violets, 
Half of primroses. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 57 

Give the sun time enough, 

Glowing and glowing, 
He'll rouse the roses 

And bring them blowing. 

Don't wait for roses 

Losing a day, 
O Minnie, Mattie, 

And wise little May. 

Violets and primroses 

Blossom to-day 
For Minnie and Mattie 

And fat little May. 



IF THE SUN COULD TELL. 

If the sun could tell us half 

That he hears and sees, 
Sometimes he would make us laugh. 

Sometimes make us cry: 
Think of all the birds that make 

Homes among the trees; 
Think of cruel boys who take 

Birds that cannot fly. 



58 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

THE DAYS ARE CLEAR. 

The days are clear, 

Day after day, 
When April's here, 

That leads to May, 
And June 
Must follow soon: 

Stay, June, stay! — 
If only we could stop the moon 
And June! 



ONE SWALLOW DOES NOT MAKE A 
SUMMER. 

A rose which spied one Swallow 
Made haste to blush and blow: 
" Others are sure to follow": 
Ah no, not so! 

The wandering clouds still owe 
A few fresh flakes of snow, 
Chill fog must fill the hollow, 
Before the bird-stream flow 
In flood across the main, 
And Winter's woe 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 59 

End in glad Summer come again. 

Then thousand flowers may blossom by 

the shore — 
But that Rose never more. 



TWO LINNETS. 

A linnet in a gilded cage — 
A linnet on a bough — 

In frosty winter one might doubt 
Which bird is luckier now. 

But let the trees burst out in leaf, 
And nest be on the bough — 

Which linnet is the luckier bird, 
Oh, who could doubt it now ? 



THE DEAD THRUSH. 

Dead in the cold, a song-singing thrush, 
Dead at the foot of a snowberry bush — 
Weave him a coffin of rush, 
Dig him a grave where the soft mosses grow, 
Raise him a tombstone of snow. 



60 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

IF STARS DROPPED OUT OF HEAVEN. 

If stars dropped out of Heaven, 
And if flowers took their place, 

The sky would still look very fair, 
And fair Earth's face. 

Winged angels might fly down to us 

To pluck the stars, 
But we could only long for flowers 

Beyond the cloudy bars. 

THE MONTHS. 

fanuary, cold, desolate; 
February, all dripping wet; 
March wind ranges; 
April changes; 
Birds sing in tune 

To flowers of May, 
And sunny June 

Brings longest day; 
In scorched July 
The storm clouds fly 
Lightning-torn; 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 61 

August bears corn, 
September fruit; 
In rough October 
Earth must disrobe her; 
Stars fall and shoot 
In keen November; 
And night is long 
And cold is strong 
In bleak December. 

WITHERING. 

Fade, tender lily, 

Fade, O crimson rose, 
Fade every flower, 

Sweetest flower that blows. 

Go, chilly autumn, 

Come, O winter cold; 
Let the green stalks die away 

Into common mould. 

Birth follows hard on death, 

Life on withering: 
Hasten, we will come the sooner 

Back to pleasant spring. 



62 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

LITTLE ONE WEARY. 

Crying, my little one, footsore and weary ? 

Fall asleep, pretty one* warm on my shoulder: 
I must tramp on through the winter night dreary, 

While the snow falls on me colder and colder. 

You are my one, and I have not another; 

Sleep soft, my darling, my trouble and treasure, 
Sleep warm and soft in the arms of your 
mother, 
Dreaming of pretty things, dreaming of pleas- 
ure. 



ALL THE BELLS WERE RINGING. 

All the bells were ringing, 
And all the birds were singing, 
When Molly sat down crying 

For her broken doll: 

O you silly Moll! 
Sobbing and sighing 

For a broken doll, 
When all the bells are ringing, 
And all the birds are singing. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 63 

WINTER RAIN. 

Every valley drinks, 

Every dell and hollow; 
Where the kind rain sinks and sinks, 

Green of Spring will follow. 

Yet a lapse of weeks — 

Buds will burst their edges, 

Strip their wool-coats, glue-coats, 
In the woods and hedges; 

Weave a bower of love 

For birds to meet each other, 

Weave a canopy above 
Nest and egg and mother. 

But for fattening rain 
We should have no flowers, 

Never a bud or leaf again 
But for soaking showers; 

Never a mated bird 

In the rocking tree-tops, 
Never indeed a flock or herd 

To graze upon the lea-crops. 



64 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

MAY. 

There is but one May in the year, 
And sometimes May is wet and cold; 

There is but one May in the year, 
Before the year grows old. 

Yet though it be the chilliest May, 

With least of sun and most of showers, 

Its wind and dew, its night and day, 
Bring up the flowers. 



A GREEN CORNFIELD. 

"And singing still dost soar and soaring ever singest." 

The earth was green, the sky was blue: 
I saw and heard one sunny morn 

A skylark hang between the two, 
A singing speck above the corn; 

A stage below, in gay accord, 

White butterflies danced on the wing, 

And still the singing skylark soared, 
And silent sank and soared to sing. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 65 

The cornfield stretched a tender green 
To right and left beside my walks; 

I knew he had a nest unseen 

Somewhere among the million stalks. 

And as I paused to hear his song 
While swift the sunny moments slid, 

Perhaps his mate sat listening long, 
And listened longer than I did. 

MY DOLLY WIFE. 

I caught a little ladybird 

That flies far away; 
I caught a little lady wife 

That is both staid and gay. 

Come back, my scarlet ladybird, 

Back from far away; 
I weary of my dolly wife, 

My wife that cannot play. 

She's such a senseless wooden thing 
She stares the livelong day; 

Her wig of gold is stiff and cold 
And cannot change to gray. 



66 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

THE PEACH TREE. 

The peach tree on the southern wall 
Has basked so long beneath the sun, 

Her score of peaches, great and small, 
Bloom rosy, every one. 

A peach for brothers, one for each, 
A peach for you and a peach for me; 

But the biggest, rosiest, downiest peach 
For Grandmamma with her tea. 



BOY JOHNNY. 

If you'll busk you as a bride 

And make ready, 
It's I will wed you with a ring, 

fair lady." 

Shall I busk me as a bride, 

1 so bonny, 

For you to wed me with a ring, 
O boy Johnny?" 

When you Ve busked you as a bride 
And made ready, 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 67 

Who else is there to marry you, 

fair lady?" 

"I will find my lover out, 

1 so bonny, 

And you shall bear my wedding-train, 
O boy Johnny." 



A CROWN OF WIND-FLOWERS. 

"Twist me a crown of wind-flowers; 
That I may fly away 
To hear the singers at their song, 
And players at their play." 

"Put on your crown of wind-flowers: 
But whither would you go?" 

" Beyond the surging of the sea 
And the storms that blow." 



a 



Alas! your crown of wind-flowers 
Can never make you fly: 

I twist them in a crown to-day, 
And to-night they die." 



68 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

MERRY LITTLE ALICE. 

Dancing on the hill-tops, 
Singing in the valleys, 

Laughing with the echoes, 
Merry little Alice. 

Playing games with lambkins 
In the flowering valleys, 

Gathering pretty posies, 
Helpful little Alice. 

If her father's cottage 
Turned into a palace, 

And he owned the hill-tops 
And the flowering valleys, 

She'd be none the happier, 
Happy little Alice. 



BITTER FOR SWEET. 

Summer is gone with all its roses, 

Its sun and perfumes and sweet flowers, 
Its warm air and refreshing showers; 

And even Autumn closes. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 69 

Yea, Autumn's chilly self is going, 

And Winter comes which is yet colder; 
Each day the hoar-frost waxes bolder, 

And the last buds cease blowing. 



BIRD RAPTURES. 

The sunrise wakes the lark to sing, 
The moonshine wakes the nightingale. 

Come, darkness, moonshine, everything 
That is so silent, sweet, and pale, 
Come, so ye wake the nightingale. 

Make haste to mount, thou wistful moon, 
Make haste to wake the nightingale: 

Let silence set the world in tune 
To hearken to that wordless tale 
Which warbles from the nightingale. 

O herald skylark, stay thy flight 
One moment, for a nightingale 

Floods us with sorrow and delight. 
To-morrow thou shalt hoist the sail; 
Leave us to-night the nightingale. 



70 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

SKYLARK AND NIGHTINGALE. 

When a mounting skylark sings 
In the sunlit summer morn, 

I know that heaven is up on high, 
And on earth are fields of corn. 

But when a nightingale sings 
In the moonlit summer even, 

I know not if earth is merely earth, 
Only that heaven is heaven. 

CONSIDER. 

Consider 
The lilies of the field whose bloom is brief: 

We are as they; 

Like them we fade away 
As doth a leaf. 

Consider 
The sparrows of the air of small account; 

Our God doth view 
Whether they fall or mount — 

He guards us too. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

Consider 

The lilies that do neither spin nor toil, 
Yet are most fair: — 
What profits all this care 

And all this coil ? 

Consider 
The birds that have no barn nor har- 
vest weeks ; 
God gives them food: 
Much more our Father seeks 
To do us good 



THE SUMMER NIGHTS 

The summer nights are short 
Where northern days are long: 

For hours and hours lark after lark 
Thrills out his song. 

The summer days are short 

Where southern nights are long; 

Yet short the night when nightingales 
Trill out their song. 



71 



72 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

SUMMER. 

Before green apples blush, 

Before green nuts embrown, 

Why one day in the country 

Is worth a month in town; 

Is worth a day and a year 

Of the dusty, musty, lag-last fashion 

That days drone elsewhere. 

SUMMER. 
Winter is cold-hearted, 

Spring is yea and nay, 
Autumn is a weathercock 

Blown every way. 
Summer days for me 
When every leaf is on its tree; 

When Robin's not a beggar, 

And Jenny Wren's a bride, 
And larks hang singing, singing, singing 

Over the wheat-fields wide, 

And anchored lilies ride, 
And the pendulum spider 

Swings from side to side; 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 73 

And blue-black beetles transact busi- 
ness, 

And gnats fly in a host, 
And furry caterpillars hasten 

That no time be lost, 
And moths grow fat and thrive, 
And ladybirds arrive. 



A PIN HAS A HEAD. 

A pin has a head, but has no hair; 

A clock has a face but no mouth there; 

Needles have eyes, but they cannot see; 

A fly has a trunk without lock or key; 

A timepiece may lose, but cannot win; 

A cornfield dimples without a chin; 

A hill has no leg, but has a foot; 

A wine-glass a stem, but not a root; 

A watch has hands, but no thumb or finger; 

A boot has a tongue, but is no singer; 

Rivers run, though they have no feet; 

A saw has teeth, but it does not eat; 

Ash-trees have keys, yet never a lock; 

And baby crows, without being a cock. 



74 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

CRUEL BOYS. 

Hear what the mournful linnets say: 
"We built our nest compact and warm, 

But cruel boys came round our way 
And took our summer house by storm. 

"They crushed the eggs so neatly laid; 
So now we sit with drooping wings, 
And watch the ruins they have made, 
Too late to build, too sad to sing." 



CONSIDER THE LILIES OF THE FIELD, 

Flowers preach to us if we will hear: — 

The rose saith in the dewy morn: 
"I am most fair; 

Yet all my loveliness is born 

Upon a thorn." 

The poppy saith amid the corn: 
"Let but my scarlet head appear 

And I am held in scorn; 
Yet juice of subtle virtue lies 
Within my cup of curious dyes." 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 75 

The lilies say: "Behold how we 
Preach without words of purity." 
The violets whisper from the shade 
Which their own leaves have made: 
"Men scent our fragrance on the air, 
Yet take no heed 
Of humble lessons we would read." 

But not alone the fairest flowers: 

The merest grass 

Along the roadside where we pass, 

Lichen and moss and sturdy weed, 

Tell of His love who sends the dew, 

The rain and sunshine too, 

To nourish one small seed. 



LOVE. 

Love is all happiness, love is all beauty, 
Love is the crown of flaxen heads and hoary; 

Love is the only everlasting duty; 

And love is chronicled in endless story, 
And kindles endless glory. 



76 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

MINNIE. 

Minnie bakes the oaten cakes, 

Minnie brews ale, 
All because her Johnny's coming 

Home from sea. 
And she glows like a rose, 

Who was so pale, 
And "Are you sure the church clock goes ?' 

Says she. 

TEMPUS FUGIT. 

Lovely Spring, 
A brief sweet thing, 
Is swift on the wing; 
Gracious Summer, 
A slow sweet comer, 
Hastens past; 
Autumn while sweet 
Is all incomplete 
With a moaning blast. 
Nothing can last, 
Can be cleaved unto, 
Can be dwelt upon. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 77 

It is hurried through, 

It is come and gone, 

Undone it cannot be done; 

It is ever to do, 

Ever old, ever new, 

Ever waxing old 

And lapsing to Winter cold. 



LADY ISABELLA. 

Heart warm as summer, fresh as spring, 
Gracious as autumn's harvesting, 
Pure as the winter's snows; as white 
A hand as lilies in sunlight; 
Eyes glorious as a midnight star; 
Hair shining as the chestnuts are; 
A step firm and majestical; 
A voice singing and musical; 
A soft expression, kind address; 
Tears for another's heaviness; 
Bright looks; an action full of grace; 
A perfect form, a perfect face; 
All these become a woman well, 
And these had Lady Isabell. 



78 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

SUN AND MOON. 

Fair the sun riseth, 

Bright as bright can be, 

Fair the sun shineth 
On a fair, fair sea. 

Fair the moon riseth 
On her heavenly way, 

Making the waters 
Fairer than by day. 



UP-HILL. 

Does the road wind up-hill all the way ? 

Yes, to the very end. 
Will the day's journey take the whole long day ? 

From morn to night, my friend. 

But is there for the night a resting-place ? 

A roof for when the slow dark hours begin. 
May not the darkness hide it from my face ? 

You cannot miss that inn. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 79 

Shall I meet other wayfarers at night ? 

Those who have gone before. 
Then must I knock, or call when just in sight ? 

They will not keep you standing at the door. 

Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak ? 

Of labor you shall find the sum. 
Will there be beds for me and all who seek ? 

Yea, beds for all who come. 



FOR ADVENT. 

Sweet, sweet sound of distant waters, falling 

On a parched and thirsty plain: 
Sweet, sweet song of soaring skylark, calling 

On the sun to shine again: 
Perfume of the rose, only the fresher 

For past fertilizing rain: 
Pearls amid the sea, a hidden treasure 
For some daring hand to gain: — 
Better, dearer than all these 
Is the earth beneath the trees: 
Of a much more priceless worth 
Is the old brown common earth. 



8o POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

UNSELFISHNESS. 

The dear old woman in the lane 

Is sick and sore with pains and aches, 

We'll go to her this afternoon, 

And take her tea and eggs and cakes. 

We'll stop to make the kettle boil, 
And brew some tea, and set the tray, 

And poach an egg, and toast a cake, 
And wheel her chair round, if we may. 

CHILD'S TALK IN APRIL. 

I wish you were a pleasant wren, 
And I your small accepted mate; 

How we'd look down on toilsome men! 
We'd rise and go to bed at eight, 
Or it may be not quite so late. 

Then you should see the nest I'd build, 
The wondrous nest for you and me; 

The outside rough perhaps, but filled 
With wool and down; ah, you should see 
The cosy nest that it would be. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 8t 

We'd be so happy by the day, 

So safe and happy through the night, 

We both should feel, and I should say, 
It's all one season of delight, 
And we'll make merry whilst we may. 

Perhaps some day there 'd be an egg 

When spring had blossomed from the 
snow: 

I'd stand triumphant on one leg; 
Like chanticleer I'd almost crow 
To let our little neighbors know. 

Next you should sit and I would sing 
Through lengthening days of sunny spring; 

Till, if you wearied of the task, 
I'd sit; and you should spread your wing 

From bough to bough; I'd sit and bask. 

Fancy the breaking of the shell, 

The chirp, the chickens wet and bare, 

The untried proud paternal swell; 
And you with housewife-matron air 
Enacting choicer bills of fare. 



82 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

Fancy the embryo coats of down, 
The gradual feathers soft and sleek; 

Till clothed and strong from tail to crown, 
With virgin warblings in their beak, 
They too go forth to soar and seek. 

So would it last an April through 
And early summer fresh with dew — 

Then should we part and live as twain 
Love-time would bring me back to you, 

And build our happy nest again. 



HOPE AND JOY. 

If hope grew on a bush, 
And joy grew on a tree, 

What a nosegay for the plucking, 
There would be! 



But oh, in windy autumn, 
When frail flowers wither, 

What should we do for hope and joy, 
Fading together? 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 83 

AN ALPHABET. 

A is an Antelope, agile to run; 
B is a black Bear and brown Bear, both beg- 
ging for bun. 

C is a Cat with a comic? 1 look; 

D is a Duchess who dines with a Duke. 

E is an Egg whence an eaglet emerges; 
F is a Fountain of full foaming surges. 

G is a Garnet in girdle of gold; 

H is a huge Hammer, heavy to hold. 

I am I — who will say I am not I ? 
J is a Jay, full of joy in July. 

K is a Kitten, or quaint Kangaroo; 
L is a Lily all laden with dew. 

M is a Mountain made dim by a mist; 
N is a nest full of Nightingales singing — oh 
list! 



8 4 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

O is an Olive, with oil on its skin; 
P is the Point of a Pen or a Pin. 

Q is a Quince quite ripe and near dropping ; 
R is a red-breasted Robin come hopping. 

S is the Song that the swift Swallows sing; 
T is a Tiger with terrible spring. 

U, or Unit, is useful with ten to unite; 

V is a Viper with venomous bite. 

W stands for the wonderful Wax-work so gay; 
X, or Policeman X, exercised day after day. 

Y is the Yacca, the Yam, or the Yew; 

Z is Zebu, or Zoophyte, seen at the Zoo. 



FIND THE ANSWER. 

There is one that has a head without an eye, 
And there 's one that has an eye without a head ; 

You may find the answer if you try; 
And when all is said, 
Half the answer hangs upon a thread. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 85 

WILLIE AND MARGERY. 

Clever little Willie wee, 

Bright-eyed, blue-eyed little fellow; 
Merry little Margery 

With her hair all yellow. 

Little Willie in his heart 

Is a sailor on the sea, 
And he often cons a chart 

With sister Margery. 



WHAT DO THE OTHERS SAY? 

What does the donkey bray about ? 
What does the pig grunt through his snout ? 
What does the goose mean by a hiss ? 
Oh, Nurse, if you can tell me this, 
I'll give you such a kiss! 

The cockatoo calls "cockatoo," 
The magpie chatters "how d'ye do?'* 
The jackdaw bids me "go away," 
Cuckoo cries "cuckoo" half the day: 
What do the others say ? 



86 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

ELEANOR 

Cherry-red her mouth was, 

Morning-blue her eye, 
Lady-slim her little waist 

Rounded prettily; 
And her sweet smile of gladness 

Made every heart rejoice: 
But sweeter even than her smile 

The tones were of her voice. 

Sometimes she spoke, sometimes she 
sang; 

And evermore the sound 
Floated, a dreamy melody, 

Upon the air around; 
As though a wind were singing 

Far up beside the sun, 
Till sound and warmth and glory 

Were blended all in one. 

Her hair was long and golden, 
And clustered unconfined 

Over a forehead high and white 
That spoke a noble mind. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN S7 

Her little hand, her little foot, 

Were ready evermore 
To hurry forth to meet a friend; 

She smiling at the door. 

But if she sang or if she spoke, 

'Twas music soft and grand, 
As though a distant singing sea 

Broke on a tuneful strand; 
As though a blessed Angel 

Were singing a glad song, 
Halfway between the earth and heaven 

Joyfully borne along. 



MARGARET AND THOMAS. 

Margaret has a milking-pail, 

And she rises early; 
Thomas has a threshing-flail, 

And he's up betimes. 
Sometimes crossing through the grass 

Where the dew lies pearly, 
They say "Good-morrow" as they pass 

By the leafy limes. 



88 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

A YEAR'S WINDFALLS. 

On the wind of January 

Down flits the snow, 
Traveling from the frozen North 

As cold as it can blow. 
Poor robin redbreast, 

Look where he comes; 
Let him in to feel your fire, 

And toss him of your crumbs. 

On the wind of February 

Snowflakes float still, 
Half inclined to turn to rain, 

Nipping, dripping, chill. 
Then the thaws swell the streams, 

And swollen rivers swell the sea 
If the winter ever ends, 

How pleasant it will be! 

In the wind of wintry March 
The catkins drop down, 

Curly, caterpillar-like, 

Curious green and brown. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 89 

With concourse of nest-building birds 

And leaf-buds by the way, 
We begin to think of flowers 

And life and nuts some day. 

With the gusts of April 

Rich fruit-tree blossoms fall, 
On the hedged-in orchard-green, 

From the southern wall. 
Apple-trees and pear-trees 

Shed petals white or pink, 
Plum-trees and peach-trees; 

While sharp showers sink and sink. 

Little brings the May breeze 

Beside pure scent of flowers, 
While all things wax and nothing wanes 

In lengthening daylight hours. 
Across the hyacinth beds 

The wind lags warm and sweet, 
Across the hawthorn tops, 

Across the blades of wheat. 

In the month of sunny June 
Thrives the red rose crop, 



9© POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

Every day fresh blossoms blow 
While the first leaves drop; 

White rose and yellow rose 
And moss rose choice to find, 

And the cottage cabbage rose 
Not one whit behind. 

On the blast of scorched July 

Drives the pelting hail 
From thunderous lightning-clouds that 
blot 

Blue heaven grown lurid-pale. 
Weedy waves are tossed ashore; 

Sea-things strange to sight 
Gasp upon the barren shore 

And fade away in light. 

In the parching August wind 

Cornfields bow the head, 
Sheltered in round valley depths, 

On low hills outspread. 
Early leaves drop loitering down 

Weightless on the breeze, 
First fruits of the year's decay 

From the withering trees. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 91 

In the brisk wind of September 

The heavy-headed fruits 
Shake upon their bending boughs 

And drop from the shoots; 
Some glow golden in the sun. 

Some show green and streaked, 
Some set forth a purple bloom, 

Some blush rosy-cheeked. 

In the strong blast of October 

At the equinox, 
Stirred up in his hollow bed 

Broad ocean rocks; 
Plunge the ships on his bosom, 

Leaps and plunges the foam — 
It's oh for mother's sons at sea, 

That they were safe at home! 

In the slack wind of November 

The fog forms and shifts; 
And all the world comes out again 

When the fog lifts. 
Loosened from their sapless twigs, 

Leaves drop with every gust; 
Drifting, rustling, out of sight 

In the damp or dust. 



92 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

Last of all, December, 

The year's sands nearly run, 
Speeds on the shortest day, 

Curtails the sun; 
With its bleak raw wind 

Lays the last leaves low, 
Brings back the nightly frosts, 

Brings back the snow. 



CHRISTMASTIDE. 

Love came down at Christmas, 
Love all lovely, love divine; 

Love was born at Christmas, 
Stars and angels gave the sign. 

Worship we the Godhead, 
Love incarnate, love Divine; 

Worship we our Jesus: 

But wherewith for sacred sign ? 

Love shall be our token, 

Love be yours and love be mine, 
Love to God and all men, 

Love for plea and gift and sign. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 93 

JOHNNY. 

Founded on an Anecdote of the First 
French Revolution. 

Johnny had a gilded head 

Like a golden mop in blow, 
Right and left his curls would spread 

In a glory and a glow, 
And they framed his honest face 
Like stray sunbeams out of place. 

Long and thick, they half could hide 

How threadbare his patched jacket hung; 

They used to be his mother's pride; 
She praised them with a tender tongue, 

And stroked them with a loving finger 

That smoothed and stroked and loved to linger^ 

On a doorstep Johnny sat, 

Up and down the street looked he; 

Johnny did not own a hat, 

Hot or cold tho' days might be; 

Johnny did not own a boot 

To cover up his muddy foot. 



94 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

Johnny's face was pale and thin, 
Pale with hunger and with crying; 

For his mother lay within, 

Talked and tossed and seemed a-dying, 

While Johnny racked his brains to think 

How to get her help and drink: 

Get her physic, get her tea, 

Get her bread and something nice; 

Not a penny piece had he, 

And scarce a shilling might suffice; 

No wonder that his soul was sad, 

When not one penny piece he had. 

As he sat there thinking, moping, 

Because his mother's wants were many, 

Wishing much but scarcely hoping 
To earn a shilling or a penny, 

A friendly neighbor passed him by, 

And questioned him, why did he cry. 

Alas! his trouble soon was told: 

He did not cry for cold or hunger, 
Though he was both hungry and cold; 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 95 

He only felt more weak and younger, 
Because he wished to be old 
And apt at earning pence or gold. 

Kindly that neighbor was, but poor, 
Scant coin had he to give or lend; 

And well he guessed there needed more 
Than pence or shillings to befriend 

The helpless woman in her strait, 

So much loved, yet so desolate. 

One way he saw, and only one: 

He would — he could — not give the advice, 
And yet he must: the widow's son 

Had curls of gold would fetch their price; 
Long curls which might be clipped, and sold 
For silver, or perhaps for gold. 

Our Johnny, when he understood 

Which shop it was that purchased hair, 

Ran off as briskly as he could, 

And in a trice stood chopped and bare, 

Too short of hair to fill a locket, 

But jingling money in his pocket. 



9 6 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

Precious money — tea and bread, 
Physic, ease, for mother dear, 

Better than a golden head: 

Yet our hero dropped one tear 

When he spied himself close shorn, 

Barer much than lamb new-born. 

His mother throve upon the money, 
Ate and revived and kissed her son: 

But oh, when she perceived her Johnny, 
And understood what he had done 

All and only for her sake, 

She sobbed as if her heart must break. 



THE FLINT. 

An emerald is as green as grass; 

A ruby red as blood; 
A sapphire as blue as heaven; 

A flint lies in the mud. 

A diamond is a brilliant stone, 
To catch the world's desire; 

An opal is a fiery spark; 
But a flint holds fire. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 97 

SUMMER. 

Soft-named Summer, 
Most welcome comer, 
Brings almost everything 
Over which we dream or sing 
Or sigh; 

But then Summer wends its way, 
To-morrow — to-day — 
Good-bye ! 



AUTUMN. 

Care flieth, 

Hope and Fear together: 
Love dieth 

In the Autumn weather. 

For a friend 

Even Care is pleasant: 
When Fear doth end 

Hope is no more present: 
Autumn silences the turtle-dove: — 
In blank Autumn who could speak of love! 



9 8 poems for children 

JUNE. 

Come, cuckoo, come: 

Come again, swift swallow: 
Come and welcome! when you come 

Summer's sure to follow; 
June the month of months 

Flowers and fruitage brings too, 
When green trees spread shadiest boughs, 

When each wild bird sings too. 



May is scant and crude, 

Generous June is riper: 
Birds fall silent in July, 

June has its woodland piper: 
Rocks upon the maple-tops 

Homely-hearted linnet, 
Full in hearing of his nest 

And the dear ones in it. 



If the year would stand 

Still at June forever, 
With no further growth on land 

Nor further flow of river, 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 99 

If all nights were shortest nights 
And longest days were all the seven, 

This might be a merrier world 
To my mind to live in. 



SEPTEMBER. 

I am a King, 

Or an Emperor rather, 
I wear a crown imperial 

And prince's-feather; 
Golden-rod is the sceptre 

I wield and wag, 
And a broad purple flag-flower 

Waves for my flag. 

Elder the pithy 

With old-man sage, 
These are my councillors 

Green in old age; 
Lords-and-ladies in silence 

Stand by me and wait, 
While gay ragged-robin 

Makes bows at my gate. 
LOfC. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN" 

LINES TO MY GRANDFATHER. 

Dear Grandpapa — To be obedient, 

I'll try and write a letter; 
Which (as I hope you'll deem expedient) 

Must serve for lack of better. 

The apple-tree is showing 
Its blossoms of bright red, 

With a soft color glowing 
Upon its leafy bed. 

The pear-tree's pure white blossom 
Like stainless snow is seen; 

And all earth's genial bosom 
Is clothed with varied green. 

The fragrant may is blooming, 
The yellow cowslip blows; 

Among its leaves entombing 
Peeps forth the pale primrose. 

The king-cup flowers and daisies 

Are opening hard by; 
And many another raises 

Its head, to please and die. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN I 

I love the gay wild flowers 

Waving in fresh Spring air: — 

Give me uncultured bowers 
Before the bright parterre. 

And now my letter is concluded; 

To do well I have striven; 
And, though news is well-nigh excluded, 

I hope to be forgiven. 

With love to all the beautiful 
And those who cannot slaughter, 

I sign myself — Your dutiful 
Affectionate grand-daughter. 



IN THE MEADOW. 

In the meadow — what in the meadow ? 
Bluebells, buttercups, meadowsweet, 
And fairy rings for the children's feet, 
In the meadow. 

In the garden — what in the garden ? 
Jacob's ladder and Solomon's seal, 
And Love-lies-bleeding beside the Allheal, 
In the garden. 



102 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

AN EASTER CAROL. 

Spring bursts to-day, 
For Christ is risen and all the earth's at play. 

Flash forth, thou sun, 
The rain is over and gone, its work is done. 

Winter is past, 
Sweet Spring is come at last, is come at last. 

Bud, Fig and Vine, 
Bud, Olive, fat with fruit and oil and wine. 

Break forth this morn 
In roses, thou but yesterday a thorn. 

Uplift thy head, 
O pure white Lily, through the Winter dead. 

Beside your dams, 
Leap and rejoice, you merry-making Lambs. 

All Herds and Flocks 
Rejoice, all beasts of thickets and of rocks. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 103 

Sing, Creatures, sing, 
Angels and Men and Birds, and everything. 

All notes of Doves 
Fill all our world: this is the time of loves. 



CHRISTMAS DAY. 

A baby is a harmless thing 

And wins our hearts with one accord, 
And Flower of Babies was their King, 

Jesus Christ our Lord: 
Lily of lilies He 
Upon His Mother's knee; 
White and ruddy, soon to be 
Sacrificed for you and me. 

Nay, lamb is not so sweet a word, 

Nor lily half so pure a name; 
Another name our hearts hath stirred, 
Kindling them to flame: 
"Jesus" certainly 
Is music and melody — 
Heart with heart in harmony 
Carol we and worship we. 



io 4 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 

The Shepherds had an Angel, 
The Wise Men had a star, 
But what have I, a little child, 

To guide me home from far, 
Where glad stars sing together 

And singing angels are ? 

Those Shepherds through the lonely night 
Sat watching by their sheep, 

Until they saw the heavenly host 
Who neither tire nor sleep, 

All singing "Glory, glory," 
In festival they keep. 

The Wise Men left their country 
To journey morn by morn, 

With gold and frankincense and myrrh, 
Because the Lord was born: 

God sent a star to guide them 
And sent a dream to warn. 

My life is like their journey, 

Their star is like God's book; 
I must be like those good Wise Men 



POEMS 1-OR CHILDREN 105 

With heavenward heart and look: 
But shall I give no gifts to God ? — 
What precious gifts they took! 



A VALENTINE TO MY MOTHER. 

All the Robin Redbreasts 

Have lived the winter through, 
Jenny Wrens have pecked their fill 

And found a work to do; 
Families of Sparrows 

Have weathered wind and storm 
With Rabbit on the stony hill 

And Hare upon her form. 

You and I, my Mother, 

Have lived the winter through, 
And still we play our daily parts 

And still find work to do: 
And still the cornfields flourish, 

The olive and the vine, 
And still you reign my Queen of Hearts 

And I'm your Valentine. 



io6 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 

Before the paling of the stars, 

Before the winter morn, 
Before the earliest cock-crow, 

Jesus Christ was born: 
Born in a stable, 

Cradled in a manger, 
In the world His hands had made 

Born a stranger. 

Priest and King lay fast asleep 

In Jerusalem, 
Young and old lay fast asleep 

In crowded Bethlehem: 
Saint and Angel, ox and ass, 

Kept a watch together, 
Before the Christmas daybreak 

In the winter weather. 

Jesus on His Mother's breast 

In the stable cold, 
Spotless Lamb of God was He, 

Shepherd of the fold: 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN ™* 

Let us kneel with Mary Maid, 
With Joseph bent and hoary, 

With Saint and Angel, ox and ass, 
To hail the King of Glory. 

WEE HUSBAND AND WEE WIFE. 
Wee, wee husband, 

Give me some money, 
I have no comfits, 
And I have no money. 

Wee, wee wife, 

I have no money, 
Milk, nor meat, nor bread to eat, 

Comfits, nor honey. 

I have a little husband 

And he is gone to sea; 
The winds that whistle round his ship 

Fly home to me. 

The winds that sigh about me, 

Return again to him; 
So I would fly, if only I 

Were light of limb. 



108 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 

In the bleak mid-winter 

Frosty winds made moan, 
Earth stood hard as iron, 

Water like a stone; 
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, 

Snow on snow, 
In the bleak mid-winter 

Long ago. 

Our God, Heaven cannot hold him 

Nor earth sustain; 
Heaven and earth shall flee away 

When he comes to reign: 
In the bleak mid-winter 

A stable-place sufficed 
The Lord God Almighty, 

Jesus Christ. 

Enough for Him, whom cherubim 
Worship night and day, 

A breastful of milk 

And a mangerful of hay; 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 109 

Enough for Him, whom angels 

Fall down before, 
The ox and ass and camel 

Which adore. 

Angels and archangels 

May have gathered there, 
Cherubim and seraphim 

Thronged the air; 
But only His mother 

In her maiden bliss 
Worshipped the Beloved 

With a kiss. 

What can I give Him 

Poor as 1 am ? 
If I were a shepherd 

I would bring a lamb, 
If I were a Wise Man 

I would do my part — 
Yet what can I give Him ? 

Give my heart. 



no POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

A NUMBER JINGLE. 

i and i are 2 — 
That's for me and you. 

2 and 2 are 4 — 
That's a couple more. 

3 and 3 are 6 
Sugar-candy sticks. 

4 and 4 are 8 
Beggars at the gate. 

5 and 5 are 10 
Sturdy sailor men. 

6 and 6 are 12 
Garden lads who delve. 

7 and 7 are 14 

Young men bent on sporting. 

8 and 8 are 16 

Pills the doctor's mixing. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN in 

9 and 9 are 18 
Passengers kept waiting. 

10 and 10 are 20 
Roses — pleasant plenty. 

11 and 11 are 22 

Sums for little George to do. 

12 and 12 are 24 

Pretty pictures and no more. 



SWEET DAFFADOWNDILLY, 

Growing in the vale, 

By the uplands hilly, 
Growing straight and frail, 

Lady Daffadowndilly. 

In a golden crown, 
And a scant green gown, 

While the spring blows chilly 
Lady Daffadown, 

Sweet Daffadowndilly. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

OUT IN THE FIELDS. 

Out in the fields 

Summer heat gloweth, 
Out in the fields 

Summer wind bloweth, 
Out in the fields 

Summer wheat groweth. 



WINTER. 

Swift swallows have left us alone in the lurch, 
But Robin sits whistling to us from his perch; 

If I were a red robin, I'd pipe you a tune, 
Would make you despise all the beauties of June. 

But since that cannot be, let us draw round the 

fire, 
Munch chestnuts, tell stories, and stir the blaze 

higher. 

We'll comfort pinched robin with crumbs, little 

man, 
Till he sings us the very best song that he can. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 113 

WHEN THE COWS COME HOME. 

When the cows come home the milk is coming, 
Honey's made while the bees are humming; 
Duck and drake on the rushy lake, 
And the deer live safe in the breezy brake; 
And timid, funny, brisk little bunny 
Winks his nose and sits all sunny. 



"THERE IS A BUDDING MORROW IN 
MIDNIGHT." 

Wintry boughs against a wintry sky; 

Yet the sky is partly blue 

And the clouds are partly bright: — 

Who can tell but sap is mounting high 

Out of sight, 

Ready to burst through ? 

Winter is the mother-nurse of Spring, 
Lovely for her daughter's sake, 
Not unlovely for her own: 
For a future bud in everything; 
Grown, or blown, 
Or about to break. 



ii 4 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

STERLING MONEY. 

What will you give me for my pound ? 
Full twenty shillings round. 
What will you give me for my shilling ? 
Twelve pence to give I'm willing. 
What will you give me for my penny ? 
Four farthings, just so many. 



SEASONS. 

Crocuses and snowdrops wither, 
Violets, primroses together, 
Fading with the fading Spring 
Before a fuller blossoming. 

O sweet Summer, pass not soon, 
Stay awhile the harvest-moon: 
O sweetest Summer, do not go, 
For Autumn's next and next the snow. 

When Autumn comes the days are drear, 
It is the downfall of the year: 
We heed the wind and falling leaf 
More than the golden harvest-sheaf. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN n S 

Dreary Winter come at last: 
Come quickly, so be quickly past: 
Dusk and sluggish Winter, wane 
Till Spring and sunlight dawn again. 



A DIAMOND OR A COAL? 

A diamond or a coal ? 

A diamond, if you please: 
Who cares about a clumsy coal 

Beneath the summer trees ? 

A diamond, or a coal ? 

A coal, sir, if you please, 
One comes to care about the coal 

What time the waters freeze. 

BROWNIE COW. 

Brownie, Brownie, let down your milk, 
White as swansdown and smooth as silk, 
Fresh as dew and pure as snow: 
For I know where the cowslips blow, 
And you and I shall have a cowslip wreath 
No sweeter scented than your breath. 



n6 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

THE ROSE THAT BLUSHES. 

The rose with such a bonny blush, 
What has the rose to blush about ? 

If it's the sun that makes her blush, 
What's in the sun to flush about ? 

The rose that blushes rosy red, 
She must hang her head; 

The lily that blows spotless white, 
She may stand upright. 



BOOKS IN THE RUNNING BROOKS. 

"It is enough, enough," one said, 

At play among the flowers: 
"I spy a rose upon a thorn, 

A rainbow in the showers; 
I hear a merry chime of bells 

Ring out the passing hours." 
Soft springs the fountain 

From the daisied ground, 
Softly falling on the moss 

Without a sound. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 117 

"It is enough," she said, and fixed 

Calm eyes upon the sky: 
"I watch a flitting tender cloud 

Just like a dove go by; 
A lark is rising from the grass, 

A wren is building nigh." 
Softly the fountain 

Threads its silver way, 
Screened by the scented bloom 

Of whitest May. 



FAIRIES. 

I fancy the good fairies dressed in white, 
Glancing like moonbeams through the shad- 
ows black, 
Without much work to do for king or hack. 

Training perhaps some twisted branch aright; 

Or sweeping faded autumn-leaves from sight 
To foster embryo life; or binding back 
Stray tendrils; or in ample bean-pod sack 

Bringing wild honey from the rocky height; 

Or fishing for a fly lest it should drown; 
Or teaching water-lily heads to swim, 



u8 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

Fearful that sudden rain might make them sink 
Or dyeing the pale rose a warmer pink; 
Or wrapping lilies in their leafy gown, 
Yet letting the white peep beyond the rim. 



DAWN. 

" Kookoorookoo ! kookoorookoo ! " 
Crows the cock before the morn; 
Kikirikee ! kikirikee ! " 

Roses in the east are born. 

Kookoorookoo ! kookoorookoo ! ' ' 
Early birds begin their singing; 
" Kikirikee! kikirikee!" 

The day, the day, the day is springing. 

PRAYING ALWAYS. 

After midnight, in the dark, 

The clock strikes one, 

New day has begun. 
Look up and hark! 

With singing heart forestall the carolling 
lark. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN "9 

After mid-day, in the light 

The clock strikes one, 

Day-fall has begun. 
Cast up, set right 

The day's account against the oncoming 
night. 

After noon and night, one day 

For ever one 

Ends not, once begun. 
Whither away, 
O brothers and O sisters? Pause and 

pray. 

SNOW AND SAND. 

I dug and dug amongst the snow, 

And thought the flowers would never grow; 

I dug and dug amongst the sand, 

And still no green thing came to hand. 

Melt, O snow! the warm winds blow 
To thaw the flowers and melt the snow; 
But all the winds from every land 
Will rear no blossom from the sand. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

ON NAMES. 

The peacock has a score of eyes, 
With which he cannot see; 

The cod-fish has a silent sound, 
However that may be. 

No dandelions tell the time, 
Although they turn to clocks; 

Cat's-cradle does not hold the cat, 
Nor foxglove fit the fox. 

A city plum is not a plum; 

A dumb-bell is no bell, though dumb; 

A party rat is not a rat; 

A sailor's cat is not a cat; 

A soldier's frog is not a frog; 

A captain's log is not a log. 



MY LEAST LITTLE ONE, 

Your brother has a falcon, 
Your sister has a flower; 

But what is left for mannikin, 
Born within an hour ? 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 



I '11 nurse you on my knee, my knee, 

My own little son; 
I'll rock you, rock you, in my arms, 

My least little one. 



HOPING FOR SPRING. 

I wonder if the sap is stirring yet, 
If wintry birds are dreaming of a mate, 
If frozen snowdrops feel as yet the sun 
And crocus fires are kindling one by one: 

Sing, robin, sing; 
I still am sore in doubt concerning Spring. 

I wonder if the Springtide of this year 
Will bring another Spring both lost and dear; 
If heart and spirit will find out their Spring, 
Or if the world alone will bud and sing: 

Sing, hope, to me; 
Sweet notes, my hope, soft notes for memory. 

The sap will surely quicken soon or late, 
The tardiest birds will twitter to a mate; 



122 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

So Spring must dawn again with warmth and 

bloom, 
Or in this world or in the world to come: 

Sing, voice of Spring, 
Till I too blossom and rejoice and sing. 



SEASONS. 

In Springtime when the leaves are young, 
Clear dewdrops gleam like jewels, hung 
On boughs the fair birds roost among. 

When Summer comes with sweet unrest, 
Birds weary of their mother's breast, 
And look abroad and leave the nest. 

In Autumn ere the waters freeze, 
The swallows fly across the seas: — 
If we could fly away with these! 

In Winter when the birds are gone, 
The sun himself looks starved and wan, 
And starved the snow he shines upon. 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN i$3 

WINTER RAIN. 

Lambs so woolly white, 

Sheep the sun-bright leas on, 

They could have no grass to bite 
But for rain in season. 

We should find no moss 

In the shadiest places, 
Find no waving meadow grass 

Pied with broad-eyed daisies: 

But miles of barren sand, 

With never a son or daughter; 

Not a lily on the land, 
Or lily on the water. 

THE HOLLY. 

A Rose has thorns as well as honey, 
I'll not have her for love or money; 
An iris grows so straight and fine 
That she shall be no friend of mine; 
Snowdrops like the snow would chill me; 
Nightshade would caress and kill me; 
Crocus like a spear would fright me; 



i2 4 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

Dragon' s-mouth might bark or bite me; 
Convolvulus but blooms to die; 
A wind-flower suggests a sigh; 
Love-lies-bleeding makes me sad; 
And poppy-juice would drive me mad:- 
But give me holly, bold and jolly, 
Honest, prickly, shining holly; 
Pluck me holly leaf and berry 
For the days when I make merry. 



SUMMER. 

Hark to the song of greeting! The tall trees 

Murmur their welcome in the southern breeze; 

Amid the thickest foliage many a bird 

Sits singing, their shrill matins scarcely heard 

One by one, but all together 

Welcoming the sunny weather; 

In every bower hums a bee 

Fluttering melodiously; 

Murmurs joy in every brook, 

Rippling with a pleasant look: 

What greet they with their guileless bliss ? 

What welcome with a song like this ? 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 125 

SPRING QUIET. 

Gone were but the Winter, 
Come were but the Spring, 

I would go to a covert 
Where the birds sing; 

Where in the whitethorn 

Singeth a thrush, 
And a robin sings 

In the holly-bush. 

Full of fresh scents 

Are the budding boughs 

Arching high over 
A cool green house; 

Full of sweet scents, 

And whispering air 
Which sayeth softly: 

"We spread no snare; 

"Here dwell in safety, 
Here dwell alone, 
With a clear stream 
And a mossy stone. 



i 2 6 POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

"Here the sun shineth 
Most shadily; 
Here is an echo heard 
Of the far sea, 
Though far off it be.' 



EARTH AND HEAVEN. 

Water calmly flowing, 
Sunlight deeply glowing, 
Swans some river riding 
That is gently gliding 
By the fresh green rushes, 
The sweet rose that blushes, 
Hyacinths whose dower 
Is both scent and flower, 
Skylark's soaring motion, 
Sunrise from the ocean, 
Jewels that lie sparkling 
'Neath the waters darkling, 
Seaweed, coral, amber, 
Flowers that climb and clamber 
Or more lowly flourish 
Where the earth may nourish: 



POEMS FOR CHILDREN 127 

All these are beautiful, 
Of beauty earth is full: 
Say, to our promised heaven 
Can greater charms be given ? 



TO LALLA. 

(reading my verses topsy-turvy.) 
Darling little Cousin, 

With your thoughtful look, 
Reading topsy-turvy 

From a printed book. 

English hieroglyphics, 

More mysterious 
To you than Egyptian 

Ones would be to us; — 

Leave off for a minute 

Studying, and say 
What is the impression 

That those marks convey. 

Only solemn silence 

And a wondering smile: 






128 TOEMS FOR CHILDREN 

But your eyes are lifted 
Unto mine the while. 

In their gaze so steady 
I can surely trace 

That a happy spirit 
Lighteth up your face; 

Tender happy spirit, 
Innocent and pure, 

Teaching more than silence, 
And then learning more. 

How should I give answer 
To that asking look ? 

Darling little Cousin, 
Go back to your book. 

Read on : if you knew it, 
You have cause to boast: 

You are much the wiser, 
Though I know the most. 












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